The Dr. Phil Fever

Posted on November 5, 2014 by Abril Chuvac in Uncategorized

Peter Galindo

Chronicle Reporter

The new psychology teacher, Jonathan Lee  took 52 students to Paramount Studios to watch a taping of the television show Dr. Phil. It is not every day that a teacher takes his students to a taping of a television show, but the purpose of this was to connect it with the most recent unit in class which was centralized around psychotherapy.  After the students took their seats, the announcer got the audience excited as they are not supposed to look half asleep, at this time, the announcer will create a dance off in which Mr. Lee engaged  with another teacher from a different school. After all of the thrills, the taping started and the students witnessed  Dr. Phil talking to 2 groups of people. In one story, a man was worried about his sister’s actions with men, and her lack of finding true love. Another one of the groups discussed a topic that was a bit more serious; a child was neglected and the doctor had to report the abuse to proper authorities. The next day, Lee asked his class to make the connections from what they saw at the show to the text and what they have been learning, such as the different techniques that were used to delve into the patient’s psyche to find the root of the problem.

This is Mr. Lee’s first year teaching the subjects AP Psychology, US History, and World History as well as it being his first year as a teacher. Apart from being a teacher that takes an unusually interesting field-trip, he is an advocate for using different kinds of technology in the classroom such as a service in (when students cellphone numbers are collected), in which reminders are sent to either do an assignment, or study for a certain test. The implementation of technology in the classroom is growing more prominent and Mr. Lee is one of these pioneers of this “technological revolution” going on in classrooms across the U.S.; with his help, the rest of the school may follow his lead. He will continue to incorporate technology and make connections with life experiences with his students as he did with the Dr. Phil field-trip.